


aurora

by Anonymous



Category: 1The9 (Band), Under Nineteen (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-04-24 13:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19174666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Doyum doesn't believe in magic despite seeing auras around all his friends.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually a wip I've given up on, but I've written enough that I felt like sharing anyway.  
> Feel free to ask any questions about it.

The first time he saw the lights, Doyum was nine. He'd been in cram school late one Thursday evening. It was December, dark and bitterly cold outside, stuffy and overheated inside. It'd be at least another hour before his mum could come and collect him and Jinsung.

The two friends had found a relatively cool spot - a quiet hall outside an empty classroom - and were attempting to dash off their extra maths homework as quickly as possible so the teachers in reception would let them eat a snack and chill for the rest of their time.

It wasn't working. Seeing the steps in equations wasn't normally difficult for Doyum, but his brain couldn't seem to process much anymore. Like he was in a fog. His eyes kept swimming, the numbers a blur on the page. Jinsung squirming just beside him, whining after every answer that he was hungry and should have saved his pocket money for more crackers, wasn't helping. Eventually, after peering blankly at a particular long division sum for far too long, Doyum thought maybe Jinsung had a point. He was hungry too. He probably needed to eat something and then his brain would work again. They should see if it was Teacher Ha in reception. She was less strict than Teacher Bang. If they showed her their best smiles and Jinsung let him do the talking, they could blag a snack out of her surely. He lifted his heavy head to say this to Jinsung. That was the first time he saw them.

A pink light hung around Jinsung, from the crown of his head and over his shoulders, seemingly formed in the air itself. Doyum looked through it and the peach pink light coloured his friend's face as he shoved Doyum.

"Am I handsome?" Jinsung joked. Doyum wheezed. Jinsung was unaware of his own strength.

"No, you're a pig."

"Then why," the other boy growled, "Are you staring at me?"

"I'm hungry! I'm gonna chop you into cutlets and have you with curry sauce!"

"Not if I eat you first, Jeon Doyum!" 

At this moment, the boys playfully pushing each other, sitting on the cool floor in the  tiny and cramped hallway, Teacher Bang strode over and quietly but firmly doubled their homework and ordered them to sit in reception where she could keep an eye on them. Sullenly, the boys gathered up their books and pencils and trudged after her.

The pink light didn't go away. Even when Doyum's mum finally picked them up at a quarter to 10, and the walk to the car in the frigid, dry air snapped the fug from his head. Even when she bought them triangle kimbap and banana milk to apologise for being late and let the boys eat in the backseat of her spacious merc. And Doyum knew he shouldn't say. He knew that a light was supposed to have a source, not will its own existence. He knew that mentioning the pretty pink glow surrounding Jinsung as he grumbled at his kimbap for not unwrapping properly would be a bad idea.

And the light never went away.

 

 

Until middle school Doyum has to deal with lights around his parents, his grandfather and his best friend. Only these four. He doesn't know why he sees them. He has figured out that they are more or less intense depending on the person's mood. His grandfather's is a soft lilac usually, deepening to an inky blue when the anniversary of his wife's death comes around. His parents are both shades of yellow. He supposes that's significant. Although the intensity of the lights is far more affected by their work then by each other - from what Doyum can tell - so perhaps it's not significant in the least.

Jinsung's pink light varies with the wind. It's shining almost blindingly, voluminously, nebulously, the day Lee Seunghwan kicks a football at Doyum's head.

It was the end of lunch hour soon, and the two first years were strolling by the pitch to get to their civics class. Despite only being April, the temperature had jumped that week and Doyum somewhat hated it. The blossoms were spectacular, he'd grant you that. But he wished a strong wind would come and chase the summer away for a little longer. Even if it blew all the pretty blossoms from the trees, he wouldn't care so long as he could stop feeling so sweaty in his uniform.

His best friend had no such qualms. Doyum noticed absently the swell of Jinsung's light as they walked in the open, surrounded by other students milling around or training on the pitch. He didn't pay it much thought. Then he was on his knees, a ringing in his ears and a throbbing in his skull.

"I am so sorry!" 

Black spots speckled Doyum's vision. While Jinsung hauled him to his feet, dusting him down and checking for injury, a third year was bounding over. He was wearing a football jacket zipped all the way up and he was terribly handsome. One of the most handsome boys Doyum had ever seen. Might be the most handsome if he could control a ball better, he thought spitefully, leaning heavily on Jinsung's shoulder. His friend's pink light filled the scene.

After retrieving the ball and assuring himself that the scrawny first-year didn't require hospitalisation, Seunghwan returned to his team to finish their training. Jinsung didn't shut up about him all day.

It was the following day when Seunghwan popped up at their lunch table with another team member - Kim Junseo - and pudding cups. Doyum decided to forgive him. The older students sat with them a while, and Doyum noticed the subtle green light glowing about Junseo and the shimmering pink surrounding Seunghwan. It took Doyum some moments to click that he was seeing the impossible lights again - seeing them around people who weren't family and weren't Jinsung. It felt so natural that they should be there. 

In fact, after that lunch time, Doyum began to see them everywhere. First it was a scattering of people, no apparent reason behind who had the light and who didn't. But it increased and increased. By the time Doyum was done with middle school, everyone was enveloped in light, from his perspective. He still didn't understand why he saw lights, whether they served any real purpose. He simply accepted that they were there - and that they had to be his secret.

 

 

The problem starts when Doyum is 17. Doyum is stressed, you see. Schoolwork's never been that big of a hassle. But there's more of it now. It seems to have crept up on him. And when he messes up three midterms in a row, his mum reacts to the parade of Cs the only way she knows how. More cram school. He can't go back to dance class until his grades are up. Truthfully, Doyum considers this very reasonable and doesn't whine. He assumes he can live without dance class for the month and half till finals.

He's wrong. It sucks.

To add to things, these days he sees much less of Jinsung. His best friend has choir and music lessons and an important schedule of hanging around the bleachers, pretending not to stare. When Jinsung does pop up, it's so often to unceremoniously burst Doyum's careful bubble of calm.

  
Doyum is sitting in the school library on a winter evening. Classes are over. There's another 20 minutes before he needs to leave for his extra chemistry class. A light rain is tapping the windows overlooking the teachers' car park. The handful of other students here are all third-years, murmuring quietly together or silently hunched over a book. Doyum is swathed in two coats, a scarf and - not that anyone needs to know this - Pompompurin toe socks. His earphones are in, a slow mix keeping him chilled while he rereads practice questions over and over.

An earphone is popped out. The relative din of the outside world swells momentarily before he can form the waves into sound.

"The world is legit ending." 

Doyum turns to his best friend, alarmed.   
"It is?"

"Yeah. We got invited to a party."

Jinsung tucks hair behind his left ear. Then the right. Then back to the left. Repeat ad infinitum. 

"We?" 

"Yes!" Jinsung punches him, flushes on remembering he's in a library, coughs and wipes his palms on his school slacks a dozen times, and punches Doyum again. (The cold is only one reason for Doyum's fondness for padded coats). "Yes, we. It's Seunghwan-hyung's friend, Junseo's birthday. You remember Junseo-hyung, he's the handsome one. And he said I should go and I should bring a friend, and a friend means you. So it is 'we'. And you have to go with me, Doyummie, I'm nervous." 

Jinsung's light swirled like a tempest, the hue changing too fast for Doyum to make any sense of it. It finally calms a little when the boy admits his nerves. But it's still burning Doyum's retina. He turns back to his book, eyes stinging and something pounding at the base of his skull. He shrugs. 

"Sure. Text me the details, I guess."

Jinsung gives him a loose hug and lets out a deep breath.

"Are you liking Junseo-sunbae more than Seunghwan-hyung now? Or what's up with that?" 

With a squeak, Jinsung jerks up again. A riot of pink lights storm about Doyum's head, attacking his brain.

 

 

Surprisingly, Seunghwan has left a good enough impression on both Doyum and Jinsung's mums that it's not complicated for them to get permission to go to the party. Jinsung feels this shows that Seunghwan is good husband material. Doyum suggests it shows Seunghwan is good at flirting with older women. They agree to disagree.

The rules are that they need to keep their phones on, they need to be back by 1am, and if they do anything stupid they're getting skinned alive. Doyum thinks that's a fair bargain. Anyway, he likes Junseo-hyung well enough and knows a few of his friends to talk to. He figures he'll go, he'll dance for a bit, he'll stop Jinsung from embarrassing himself _too_ horribly in front of Seunghwan, and that'll be that. A night well spent.

Doyum is an idiot.

The pounding dance music and the press of several dozen high school students crowded into Junseo's not especially large apartment are one thing. Doyum kind of gets a headache before they've even reached Junseo's floor. But he's used to headaches, he can deal with headaches. It's after they get inside. The concatenation of hormonal teenagers, and heightened emotions, and Junseo is laughing and welcoming them in. But all Doyum sees is a riot of colours. So bright they swell to white and sear the thoughts from his skull. Someone hands him a drink. Panicky, he sips it too quickly, draining the thing before he knows what he's done.

Doyum doesn't remember much after that. Music and shadows. Hands on his waist. Sugar on his tongue. It seems quite suddenly, the roaring chainsaw in his ears resolves itself into a tick.

The steady tick of a clock. It's 2:25 a.m. . Doyum's mouth tastes of vomit. He's sitting on a cold, tiled floor and a suspiciously handsome boy is pressing a damp flannel to his forehead. He basks in the cold. Sweat drying on and prickling his skin. Two hands are holding his. His eyes swim-up patterned sleeves to the worried face of his best friend.

"Doyummie, you back with us?" Jinsung asks, voice barely cracking a whisper. Doyum croaks, and Jinsung crushes him in a hug.

"Taewoo-hyung found you alone on the balcony and you were going on about auras and stuff, and then you fainted into his arms and..." Jinsung coughs. He hugs Doyum again. Doyum is quite convinced he'll have bruises from it. With a burst of determination, he cranks his heavy head to see the hyung still waiting with a flannel and a basin of ice water, his legs tucked under him, round chocolate brown eyes full of honest concern. Doyum has enough time to suppose he might not be suspicious after all before passing out in Jinsung's bone-crushing hug.

 

 

 

  
"Could you really see auras?" 

It's lunchtime the next Monday. Doyum's recovered from his fit (or whatever that was) at Junseo's party. All he has as reminder is an especially nasty ache at the base of his skull and a general sense of guilt - having his bff pass out sort of did for Jinsung's plans to get closer to the handsome seniors.

"What? Auras?" 

They're eating together for the first time in a long time, two bowls of yellow splodge the school insists is curry rice in front of them. The cafeteria's cacophonous, no one's paying a blind bit of notice to the to geeky first-years at the side. 

"Auras!" Jinsung insists, "That's what you said! It sounded like that anyway." 

"They're not auras," Doyum rolls his eyes, poking at his rice, he adds, "That' s all mumbo-jumbo and nonsense. Like believing in astrology or something." 

Jinsung harrumphs. Doyum ignores him. He knows well Jinsung likes to check their horoscopes in the magazine's his mum gets every weekend. In turn, Jinsung knows well Doyum considers that stuff rubbish, just a very specific form of prose. According to the magazines, Doyum's going to meet a dark and handsome stranger. Unless that stranger is the new physics tutor he's getting next week, it's clearly a lie.

"Well, whatever they were," Jinsung utters, diplomatically, "You could really see, like, lights and swirly colours and stuff?" 

"Can," Doyum amends, swallowing some of his lunch with supreme dissatisfaction. When Jinsung only blinks at him like a lost bird, Doyum explains,

"I _can_ see them. The other night was just... overly intense or something, it overwhelmed me." 

Jinsung's fork falls beside his plate. He covers a gasp with one sweater-bound fist. As cute and precious as this is, it's exactly the kind of reaction Doyum had been afraid of. He sighs. Pushing his half-eaten lunch to one side, he launches into as concise an explanation as he can. He has a small hope a clear explanation will make Jinsung see it's really nothing outstanding or magical.

His small hope was obviously lost. At the end of the explanation, Jinsung has both fists at his mouth and hasn't blinked in some time.

"That is amazing!" he hisses.

"It's really not."

"It is though. I'm sort of angry you didn't tell me. Actually, I'm very angry. You're the worst. Jeon Doyum is the worst." 

Doyum laughs. The bell resounds and the two friends gather their belongings to head to the next class.

"I can't believe you've really never looked into it though," Jinsung is saying, hands in his pockets and a thoughtful look on his face. Doyum doesn't get it.

"I told you, I got a scan because of migraines before. That didn't find anything. I don't see what else I could do." 

"Not that kind of looking into it," Jinsung guffaws, as if Doyum's adorably stupid. "We should go see Junseo-hyung's friend, the guy you were dancing with. Did you get his number?" 

Now Doyum does feel stupid.

"I was dancing with someone?" 

"Wow, Heartbreaker," Jinsung jokes, before a little frown creeps into his features, "I guess your memory really was messed up. No worries. I'll message Junseo-hyung for his number. We'll get to the bottom of this." 

With that, Jinsung turns to get to his English class and Doyum has to scurry away to reach his history class in time. He searches his memories. He tries, he really does try to piece the fractured images and colours and sensations together, but it's like there's a darkness, a shadow across his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Jinsung sends him an address that evening, though they're not free to go together until the weekend. Doyum looks the place up online and scares his mom by suddenly groaning aloud while they're watching TV. It's a magic shop. The name is an illegible scrawl of purple curlicues on a black background. There's a picture of a dreamcatcher, some kind of elf woman with wings, and, according to Google Maps, a 10% discount on genuine Gothic ruins. Doyum feels a migraine coming on already. Did he really dance with someone who works in a place like that? Does he have terrible taste in boys when he's intoxicated or what's going on?

 

A sharp inhalation. Jinsung's hands tighten around Doyum's arm.

"They're just wind chimes, Jinsungie."

He gets a light shove for that, then both hands are back clutching his sleeve.

"Shut up, I know what they are. It's just the whole... atmosphere. It's spooky." 

Doyum rolls his eyes, but carefully links one hand with Jinsung's. The boy's death grip slackens.

"Hey, these are cute," Doyum chirps, picking up an item to show his friend. Jinsung shudders and burrows closer into Doyum's jacket. The item in question is a small glass monster with bulging black eyes, a forked tongue, horns all around its head and two twirling red tails. Seeing his friend's reaction, Doyum quickly puts it back. (He still thinks it's cute though).

"They're dream monsters. You put one under your pillow and it's supposed to eat your nightmares." 

A man has appeared through the beaded curtain leading to the back. He's in his early twenties, Doyum estimates. He's tall, but not especially. A little skinny, a little handsome. He's wearing black jeans and a red hoodie with a small cartoon bunny on the front. The bunny is the most remarkable thing about his appearance, frankly. Yet Doyum is immediately on edge.

"According to whose beliefs?" Jinsung speaks up, still keeping his distance from the monsters. 

"Er," the man scratches his nape,"Taewoo's cousin who makes them, I think. I'm not sure." 

Doyum feels Jinsung relax a bit at that anticlimactic answer. He almost wishes he wouldn't. His friend's hold is keeping Doyum still when some primeval part of his mind is screeching at him to flee. 

"It's Jinsung, isn't it? I remember you, you two." 

He glances at Doyum and looks away. Did he blush? Doyum thinks he did, but he can't make sense of that right now. 

"Junseo said you wanted to ask me something?" he prompts, voice a low rumble in Doyum's ears. His fingers are worrying the hem of his hoodie. He seems to spot what he's doing and stuffs his hands in the front pocket. He _is_ nervous. But why is he the one who's nervous? Doyum's head aches.

"Right! You see my friend-," Jinsung turns to Doyum. His eyes widen. Whatever he sees on Doyum's face, he corrects himself in a heartbeat,"Our friend can see auras. Or something like that. And we thought you might have some books about it or... Well, or anything really."

He moves their interlaced hands into the pocket of his winter coat and squeezes. Doyum gives in to whatever this is he's feeling and leans against his friend's side.

Jinsung and this man talk some more, but Doyum doesn't hear. The next thing he knows is the tinkle of the chimes and the roar of traffic as soon as they step outside. The cold air clasps his face and the colours scudding with the passers-by assault his eyes.

"So that was awk," Jinsung grimaces,"Did something else happen between you and Yongha-hyung that night? He could barely look at you. And you were no better. I wish you'd told me if something... Hey, are you okay?" 

"Jinsungie," Doyum's voice sounds distant to his own ears. He feels like he's waking up from a fever. "There was no light. He didn't have any lights around him." 

 

Doyum is more than happy to leave things. So he says anyway. He repeats it frequently and unequivocally. In true best friend style, Jinsung ignores him. But Doyum doesn't have answers to Jinsung's questions. He doesn't know why he couldn't see a light around Yongha. He doesn't know why he was nervous that day. He still can't even remember dancing with him that night. He knows his best friend is still asking, dropping hints at Junseo. But Doyum pretends he doesn't know about that. He buries himself in his books, dances in secret, and pushes the handsome stranger with the cute hoodie from his mind.

It takes two weeks. Finals are close. It's break and Doyum is minding his own business, sitting in an empty classroom with his physics book and a bag full of guava slices. His best friend marches in with Junseo and the second-year representative and president of the school's music society, Shin Yechan. Doyum had no idea those two even talked - but then, Jinsung does know half the world, so who's Doyum to question it.

The older boys pull up chairs and sit across from him, Jinsung sits beside him, and Doyum feels inexplicably that some kind of intervention is taking place.

Junseo starts.  
"So like, I just need to check - did you read any of those books Yongha-hyung recommended?" 

Doyum chews slowly while he decides how to answer.

"I browsed them." 

Jinsung snorts.

"I did! I didn't see anything that informative is all." 

He really did browse them. At least, he tried to. It's just he can't take anything seriously went on the very first page it's telling him to ground his chakras in the love of the Goddess who be. Besides, what was he even looking for? So he gets headaches sometimes. So that one time he randomly couldn't see lights. He's been living his life perfectly well all this time. It only matters now because his best friend is freaked out.

"Yeah, sure," Junseo waves a hand dismissively, not letting the first years start bickering, "Look, I don't really care that much, but Yongha-hyung kind of thinks you hate him." 

That makes Doyum sit up straight.

"What?" 

"He said it was really awkward when you two went over and you wouldn't even look at him." 

"He wouldn't look at me either," Doyum  mutters, hating this conversation more and more by the second. Yechan sighs.

"I told you it was mutual awkwardness." 

"I believed you the first time Yechannie," Junseo replies without bite.

"I can't believe you kissed him and you didn't tell me," Jinsung blurts out. Blood rushes to Doyum's face.

"What? No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did! Yechannie-hyung saw you." 

"Yeah," Yechan drawls, "There was really no mistaking that." 

Doyum stares, dumbfoundead. This new information is proving extremely difficult to process. And still there's that shadow across his brain, a black hole devouring his memories.

"I don't remember," he admits, voice small.

"Why are you more of a slut than me? How does that make sense?" Jinsung snipes. Doyum knows his friend simply wishes he'd been the first to find out. Doyum's never exactly kissed a boy before... Jinsung leans against Yechan's side, feigning exasperation. The older boy emits a squeak at the sudden armful of hoobae, but doesn't protest. Junseo rolls his eyes.

"So anyway, my good friend here had a suggestion. It's more practical than those books - I know they're mostly airy-fairy stuff." 

Doyum draws his eyes away from Jinsung playing with Yechan's sleeve. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, I don't know if it'll clarify things exactly. But it'll get you and hyung talking. And honestly, whatever about your auras, I need you to talk to him so he stops moping. He's bloody annoying when he's moping, you don't understand."

Because Doyum so failed to look Yongha in the eye last time, his brain transforms this into hoodie-bunny moping. Now Doyum feels bad.

"Okay, I guess. You still haven't told me what your suggestion is." 

"C-can you be free after school?" Yechan asks, shuffling a little - he's flustered. Jinsung takes the hint and easily relinquishes Yechan's personal space. "We'll stop by the middle school and then head to the shop with a couple of my juniors." 

Doyum agrees and they finally leave him and his guava slices in peace. He's apprehensive. Apprehensive but excited.

 

 

When they picked the two middle-schoolers up, Doyum had had the thought that they were cute. In their white shirts and grass stains slacks. Big winter jackets left unzipped despite the season. They were sharing a huge bag of jellies at the school gate while they waited for Yechan & co. One had round, monkey-ish ears, short spiky hair and the dark complexion of a sporty type. A calm regatta blue flowed around him. The other was thin but with round cheeks that hadn't lost their baby fat. He wore a thick scarf the swaddled his face up to the tip of his nose. He would emerge from it long enough to suck a jelly into his mouth then sink back into his cocoon of warmth. Soft, powdery blue light glowing around him. Definitely cute.

Doyum had thought. He hadn't reckoned on Taekhyeon (ears boy)'s inability to stop speaking. And when he did fall quiet and it seems like they might all pass the remainder of the bus trip in peace, shy Sungwon (scarf boy) , who is huddled in the same seat, would whisper something in his ear. They'd both snicker and Taekhyeon would be off again, providing a running commentary to their meandering journey to Yongha's magic shop.

"Aren't they cute?" Jinsung nudged Doyum, clearly amused by the younger kids. When Doyum hesitated, Jinsung chuckled. He abandoned him again a moment later, discussing some performance for music club with Yechan, who is sitting just in front of them. He left his hand in Doyum's though, and Doyum held it, grateful.

"So, you and Jinsung-hyung," Taekhyeon began, eyeing Doyum up and down, "Anything up with that?" he inquired, loud enough for the whole bus to hear. Doyum sneered.

"Yes," he deadpans, "We're legally betrothed."

He hears an offended gasp from the seat beside him. The two middle-schoolers give him a long look. Finally, Taekhyeon replies,

"I don't know what that means, but it sounds kinky." 

Doyum no longer likes children. From this day forward, people born after '02 don't exist.

 

 

The spike of fear is there again as the six of them approach the shop. But Doyum anticipated it this time, therefore he (hopes he) can control it better. He concentrates on his breathing, the cold, polluted air in his lungs. The tramp of their footsteps - Junseo and Yechan in front, gossiping about seniors Doyum doesn't recognise the names of; Jinsung beside him, hand in hand, occasionally adding his two cents to the hyungs' conversation; Taekhyeon and Sungwon just behind, playing a game where they have to spot a passerby who looks like Feebas. The faint smell of incense before they've even entered the little shop. The high jangle of the wind chimes.

"You all came."

Yongha's smiling as he slips out from behind the tiny, cramped counter. He's cute when he's smiling, Doyum concedes. He has apple cheeks and the bashful habit of passing a hand in front of his mouth. He's wearing another hoodie that's too big for him. This one has a zombie girl holding an umbrella on it. Right, a little bit cute. Even though his entire existence is somehow unnerving. 

"Yeah, Hyung," Junseo responds, "Even the puppies."

He gestures behind where Doyum is cuddling unreasonably close to his best friend. Doyum's eyes follow, and travel downwards. There are two piles of clothes on the floor by the door - white shirts, bulky jackets, grey slacks and a knit scarf - and two mongrel puppies sitting nicely on the carpet, ears alert, peering up at them expectantly. One is black with splashes of speckled brown on his ribs and ears. The other is sandy coloured with a luxurious tail and mane. Yongha laughs. 

"So I see. Guess I should find treats."

The black dog gives up on sitting nicely and launches itself at Yongha's lap. Doyum's best friend gives up on him and drops down to pet the sandy coloured dog.

"No one told me there'd be puppies!" he pouts, cooing over its pretty ears.

 

 

 

"So, do you guys, like, fight crime or something?" Jinsung asks. Doyum will never admit it, but the question's been niggling at his mind this past half-hour too. (Without the lights in his vision and the ache in his skull, a lot of things have been flitting through his mind. He feels positively buoyant, sitting on the floor amongst the magical knick knacks, scratching Sungwon under his furry chin). Yongha looks puzzled. 

"I stopped a shoplifter the other day. Like that?" 

Jinsung drops a hand on to Sungwon's head and sighs,

"Not exactly." 

Junseo and Yechan laugh at him, but Yongha still looks confused. He _is_ a cute hyung, Doyum decides - now that the dread at his presence has passed. The inexplicable fear has been somewhat explicated, or something. Yoo Yongha is a college dropout, hip hop enthusiast, quite cute black magician. The sinister charm he wields is to obstruct natural magic. (Doyum inwardly cringes just thinking these words. However, considering he has an enchanted puppy in his lap, he figures he can learn to bear with it). In Yongha's presence, Yechan - who can supposedly see music in the air - has trouble whistling a tune. The cute middle schoolers turn back into cute doggies. Junseo refuses to describe his gift, but he assures them it "melts out" when he hangs around his older friend.

It's Junseo and Yechan who've been providing the explanations. After hanging a 'back in 5 minutes' sign on the door, Yongha has sat with them, barely uttering a word. He just scratches Taekhyeon behind his floppy ears, making silly sounds at the puppy's under-impressed face. Occasionally he rescues an artifact from the its curious nose.

Doyum watches him, intrigued. The man didn't bat an eyelid when Junseo called it black magic. But isn't black magic bad? Isn't that something he should stay away from - if all this is really real? Yongha must feel the gaze on him. He peeks up, but his eyes dart away immediately, a red flush rising up his neck. A shadow drifts across Doyum's brain and, in its passing, he suddenly notices how long he'd been staring and blushes too. Gosh, this is ridiculous. 

"And yeah," Junseo clears his throat, sensing that renewed weird atmosphere, "Hyung found me and later our Taekhyeonnie. Hyung's good at, er, how should I say it? Finding people who need to be found?" 

"Something like that," Yongha agrees. He drags a knuckle from Taekhyeon's nose, between his eyes and over the crown of his head. The dog goes cross-eyed and grumbles. The nefarious magician giggles at him and does it again.

"Oh! Oh heck, I get it!" Jinsung erupts. Doyum startles. Distracted by dogs, he had underestimated how invested in this freakish story his friend would become, "Is that what happened at the party? Like, is that how you found each other?" he interrogates them, gesturing rapidly between the two, "Oh my god, is that why you kissed him." 

Out of the corner of his eye, Doyum sees both Yechan and Junseo open their mouths to say something and rescue the situation. Both give up. Even the dogs look up to see what the humans are doing. His eyes only flicker to Yongha's then away, but it's enough for Doyum to see how red and flummoxed he is. Doyum himself feels like his face is on fire.

"Well, I just," his best friend stumbles, sensing the atmosphere, "Is it?" 

"I didn't kiss him though," Yongha mumbles, almost inaudible, "He kissed me." 

Doyum freezes. Blood is roaring in his ears. Sungwon gives his hand a comforting lick.

"Anyway, as we were saying," Yechan cuts in, voice strained, "We wanted you to know about each other. If anything happens, anything you don't understand, this hyung knows a lot more than his face would lead you to expect." 

Yongha doesn't respond to the backhander, evidently more than used to such things.

"If nothing else, it's a good place to study for exams," Junseo adds, hauling himself up and clapping for both the dogs to follow him, "Cuts out the background noise and... And everything. Yeah... Come on, puppies." 

Taekhyeon and Sungwon happily trot after Junseo into the back, tails wagging. The remaining three students exchange stilted goodbyes and 'talk to you later's with Yongha. The magician presses a card into Doyum's Palm. At that moment, darkness clouds Doyum's vision. He emerges into the outside world with the strange impression of the zombie girl on Yongha's hoodie having told him to call her anytime. The aurora borealis of humanity shivers back into Doyum's consciousness. Junseo strolls up with the two middle schoolers, back in their school uniforms and complaining about being hungry.

"Sorry I made things awk back there," Jinsung whispers into his ear as they all amble down the street looking for snacks. Doyum, willing his cheeks to stop burning, promises him it's fine, and Jinsung tells him, "I underestimated what a ho you are. Won't happen again, don't worry." 

  
Doyum laughs. For the first time in his life, he wonders if there's a light around himself. He wonders what color it could be and whether maybe it even matches with someone nearby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that ending is a big hint at where this thing was intended to go lol. It would end up being very long though and idf able to do it justice :x Drop kudos or a comment if you enjoyed whatever this is plz~


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